Border conflicts boil to alarming levels

Border disputes have become a matter of life and death and threaten to destabilise the country as ethnic communities vie for resources.

Almost half of the counties in Kenya are involved in border disputes with each other. A good number of these disputes are fuelled by recent discovery of minerals and other resources.

In a number of these cases, tensions between communities living at these border points are boiling to alarming levels.

Disputes over boundaries between Turkana and West Pokot counties are believed to have fuelled conflicts at border points like Kapedo where 25 police officers were killed by Pokot raiders two weeks ago.

Leaders believe the recent discovery of geothermal energy in Silali and Paka hills at the border town has aggravated matters.

At stake is the $3.1 billion Bogoria- Silale geothermal complex announced by the government in 2011. When completed, it will be the largest power installation on the continent with the capacity to inject 5,000MW to the national grid.

For decades, Kapedo has been hotly contested between the two counties. This long-standing border conflict that Akoret Division in East Pokot has brought learning activities to a standstill.  The location of Kapedo is a hot potato. Kapedo North and two locations are in Baringo County while six chiefs from the area report to the Turkana East County Commissioner.

Elsewhere, residents of Mwabundusi Scheme find themselves in a rather unique situation that has become a metaphor for the multiple boundary disputes among counties today.

Keroka dispute

The scheme is both claimed by Kisii and Nyamira counties, which just months ago resolved another dispute between them over the ownership of Keroka town.

The disputed area was previously under the defunct Getare Ward of Kitutu Masaba constituency which is in Nyamira County. However, Getare Ward councillors always sat in the Kisii Municipal Council.

Now both counties are claiming revenues from the residents of the scheme. Several companies, Kisii Bottlers and Kisii Agricultural Centre are based here.

As they did with the dispute over the location of Keroka town, it is hoped that leaders of the two counties will once again reach an amicable solution to the current crisis as they have promised.

Border disputes are always associated with marginalised parts of the country, which are usually inhabited by pastoralists who move frequently with their animals. However, a number of “well-to-do” counties are having disputes of their own spurred by fight for revenues. In Central Kenya, Nyandarua and Laikipia counties are feuding over taxation in the commercial hub of Nyahururu town.

Nyahururu row

Leaders have openly differed over who between the two counties should be allowed to collect the sh200 million annual revenue from Thompson’s Falls situated as the heart of Nyahururu township.

Former Ndaragua MP Jeremiah Kioni has petitioned the Senate to begin relocating Nyahururu town in Laikipia County to Nyandarua County.

Perennial clashes at the Kisumu-Kericho border have claimed over 20 lives over the past two years. The Kipsigis live on the eastern side while the Luos live in the western side in Upper Nyakach. Even though the conflicts which saw over 20 people dead, 500 displaced and several houses torched between February and April were attributed to cattle rustling, the aspects of boundary crept in.

The discovery by Tullow Oil of potential oil wells in Nyakach and Kericho, along the contested boarder seems to have heightened tensions.

Kisumu and Nandi counties are both claiming Nyangore sub-location, home to some estimated 10,000 squatters. Conflicts between communities here claimed over 10 lives early this year. Taita Taveta County is involved in border disputes with two of its neighbours; Makueni and Kwale.  Taita Taveta and Kwale both claim ownership of Mtito Andei and Mackinnon Road townships.

Taita-Taveta County leaders say the matter has become more complicated and explosive now that the disputed Mackinnon Road area has been included in Block-119 where oil and coal exploration is about to start on the Kwale side.

And last week five Taita-Taveta County workers who had gone to remove a post erected by their Makueni counters were attacked and seriously injured by a group of youths from Makueni County.

Leader of Majority in the Senate Kithure Kindiki said the conflicts posed a danger to devolution, but promised that the Senate will take a lead role in solving them. “Devolution was meant to help people access resources and a source of bloodshed. We are guardians of devolution and as such we are going to see to it that these disputes end amicably,” he said.